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Third place win at franco communication games 

By Russ Cooper

Anyone who’s seen the video Push Tes Limites prepared last fall by the Concordia delegation for les Jeux franco-canadiens de la communication knew this year would be a bit different.

‘A bit different’ might be a bit of an understatement.

For those not immediately in front of a computer (or perhaps a bit frightened to watch), the video features fluorescent-clad innuendo-laden communication students shaking their things to a remake of Salt-N-Pepa’s 1987 hit Push It. Posted on YouTube in November to spark a buzz, co-president of Concordia’s 33-member team Charles D’Amboise said the strangely captivating (and rather cheeky) video sent the message “Concordia is back.”

It worked. The team brought back a third place win from the competition’s fourteenth edition March 3 to 7 in Moncton, New Brunswick.

The bronze finish marked a major improvement for Concordia; the highest place finish in their five previous appearances at the contest was second to last.

“This year, we were able to show what we really are. This proves that our students are able to succeed in a bilingual environment,” says the communication studies student, D’Amboise.

Université de Québec à Montréal placed first, ahead of Université Laval in second.

The annual competition hosts teams of communication and journalism students from primarily francophone universities (most in Quebec, but also the bilingual universities of Ottawa and Moncton) to prepare them for the rigours and stress of the media industry.

Generally 35 per delegation, there can be up to six students per team battling in 13 different sub-competitions such as newscast, journalistic writing, public relations and publicity. They’re given details of a situation, a short time to prepare, and must perform on the spot to the best of their abilities. For example, the interviewing contest saw D’Amboise served notice that he was to interview François Avard, the creator of the Radio-Canada sitcom Les Bougon with three hours preparation – in front of 400 spectators with several industry professionals serving as judges. D’Amboise took third place.

And he wasn’t the only Concordian to reach the podium. First-year journalism student Hugo Pilon-Larose won a gold medal in debate and a silver medal as part of the TV newscast team.

The strong performance wasn’t a fluke, said a proud D’Amboise. “We started organizing in June and formed our delegation in October. Every Sunday since, the team got together to practice.” They even enlisted the help of professionals to prepare; in his spare time. D’Amboise interviewed Olympic-medallist diver Alexandre Despatie to practice his skills interviewing prominent figures.

Youann Blouin, co-president of this year’s games and four-time competitor for UdeM, wasn’t surprised by the improvement.

“I could see they did the work to get there. I think they said, ‘let’s prove that we can win,’” said Blouin. “They decided not to be spectators, but to be leaders this year.”

As for next year, D’Amboise (who will serve as co-president again in 2010-11) wants to go with the momentum and continue to push it. “We’re going for the gold next year,” he says.

Visit the games site or Concordia's games site for more.